KR100408295B1 - Cleaning device of liquid electrophotographic printer - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for removing residual images of a wet electrophotographic printer. The residual image removing apparatus of the disclosed wet electrophotographic printer includes an image remaining on the transfer medium and the fixing roller after transferring and fixing the image on the intermediate transfer medium developed with a developer mixed with a powdered toner and a liquid solvent onto a paper. A device for removing the transfer medium, wherein the cleaning means of the transfer medium and the cleaning means of the fixing roller are integrally driven, the web continuously contacting the transfer medium and the fixing roller; A first press roller for bringing the web into close contact with the transfer medium to be in contact with the residual image on the transfer medium; A second press roller for bringing the web, which has cleaned the transfer medium, into close contact with the fixing roller so as to be in contact with the residual image on the fixing roller; A web feed roll for supplying the web to the first press roller; And a web recovery roll for recovering the web after removing the residual images. According to this, by combining the two conventional residual image removal device in one device, it is possible to reduce the equipment to reduce the manufacturing cost, and also to reduce the volume occupied by the device.

Description

Residual image removal apparatus for wet electrophotographic printers {Cleaning device of liquid electrophotographic printer}

The present invention relates to an apparatus for removing residual images of a wet electrophotographic printing press, and more particularly, to an apparatus for removing residual images of a wet electrophotographic printing press which removes a transfer medium or photosensitive member and a residual image on a fixing roller.

Generally, a wet electrophotographic printing machine is applied to a laser printer or a copying machine, and a developer in which a solid toner having a predetermined color and a liquid carrier acting as a solvent is mixed into an electrostatic latent image region formed on a photosensitive medium such as a photosensitive belt. It is a printing machine which transfers and fixes on printing paper after attaching and obtaining a desired image.

However, the image remaining on the transfer medium or the photosensitive medium and the fixing roller must be removed in the transfer and fixing process so that a clean image can be transferred onto the paper in the next printing process.

1 is a schematic diagram of a wet color printing machine including a conventional intermediate transfer belt and a device for removing an image remaining in a fixing roller.

Referring to the drawings, the wet color printing machine is the intermediate transfer belt 10, the photosensitive member 20, the charger 30, the optical scanning device 40, the developing device 50, the transfer roller 60, the fixing device 70 And a fixing roller cleaning device 80 and a transfer belt cleaning device 90.

The intermediate transfer belt 10 rotates the endless track by the plurality of rollers 12 and 14.

The charger 30 charges the photosensitive member 20 to a potential of a predetermined level.

The four optical scanning devices 40 scan yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K) color information to the photosensitive member 20, and each of the four developing devices 50 is yellow ( Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K) colors of developer are supplied to the photosensitive member 20 to form an image.

Each photoreceptor 20 abuts against the corresponding backup roller 22 in the transfer belt 10 to first transfer an image formed on its surface to the intermediate transfer belt 10 passing therebetween.

The transfer roller 60 secondaryly transfers the image C formed on the transfer belt 10 to the paper P passing between the rollers 14 in a state in which a direct current voltage is applied with a polarity opposite to that of the toner. .

The fixing device 70 includes a fixing roller 74 including a heater 72 therein, and a pressure roller 76 that is installed to face the fixing roller 74 and the paper feed path.

Fixing roller cleaning device 80 is a web 81 through a supply roller 82 for supplying a web (web) 81, and a pressure roller 84 for pressing the supplied web 81 to the fixing roller 74 ), A recovery roll 86 for recovering the) and a reservoir 88 for supplying a liquid carrier or a solution to the web of the supply roll 82.

The transfer belt cleaning apparatus 90 includes a supply roll 92 for supplying a web 91 to remove residual images on the transfer belt 10 that has undergone the second transfer process, and the supplied web 91. The recovery roll 96 which collect | recovers a web through the pressure roller 94 which presses the roller 12, and the recovery tank 98 containing the carrier from the said recovery roll 96 are provided.

The printing and cleaning process of the wet color printer of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

First, after the photoreceptor 20 is charged to a potential of a predetermined level through the charger 30, the optical scanning device 40 scans light onto a predetermined region of the charged photoreceptor 20. An electrostatic latent image is formed in the photosensitive member 30 by the scanned light, and this electrostatic latent image is developed by the toner charged in the developing device 50. The images developed on the photosensitive member 20 are primarily transferred to a predetermined region of the transfer belt 10 passing between each photosensitive member 20 and the backup roller 22 corresponding thereto. The primary transferred color image is secondarily transferred onto the paper P passing between the transfer roller 60 and the corresponding roller 14. At this time, a direct current voltage is applied to the transfer roller 60 in the opposite polarity to the toner, so that the toner is adhered to the paper P by the electrostatic attraction between the toner and the transfer roller 60. The paper P on which the toner adheres is passed between the fixing roller 74 and the pressure roller 76 facing the toner, and the heat between the rollers 74 and 76 and the heat generated by the heater 72 inside the fixing roller 74. The toner is momentarily fused to the paper P by the pressure. The paper P on which the color image is fused is discharged along the paper feed path 79.

The toner remaining in the fixing roller 74 during the fixing process of the toner is in a state in which the carrier is evaporated and dried due to the heat from the fixing roller 74, and thus the capillary phenomenon is not removed by the fixing roller cleaning device 80. The carrier of the reservoir 88 is supplied to the cleaning web 81 of the supply roll 82 through the rising cloth 89 so as to wet the web 81 to some extent and then fix the web 81 with the pressure roller 84. It adheres to the roller 74 and removes a residual image. The cleaned web 81 is wound on the recovery roll 86 in a dried state due to the heat of the fixing roller 74.

On the other hand, an image still exists in the transfer belt 10 after the secondary transfer process, and some carriers remain in this residual image. The web 91 from the supply roll 92 of the transfer belt cleaning device 90 is brought into close contact with the roller 12 of the transfer belt 10 by the pressure roller 94 to remove residual images. The cleaned web 91 is wound by a recovery roll 96. At this time, the carrier from the web 91 of the recovery roll 96 is dropped and collected in the carrier recovery tank 98.

Therefore, the conventional residual image removal apparatus is separated into a device for cleaning the intermediate transfer belt and the fixing roller, respectively, which causes a problem that the volume occupied by the printing press becomes large. In the above, an embodiment using an intermediate transfer belt as a transfer medium has been described. However, the above-described problem also occurs when the photosensitive drum and the intermediate transfer medium serve as one photosensitive drum.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention was created to improve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a residual image removal apparatus of a wet electrophotographic printing machine in which the cleaning device of the intermediate transfer belt and the fixing roller are integrated.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a residual image removing apparatus of a wet electrophotographic printing machine in which the cleaning device of the photosensitive member and the fixing roller are integrated.

1 is a schematic explanatory drawing of a conventional wet color printing machine,

2 is a schematic illustration of a wet color printing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a schematic illustration of a wet color printer according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

* Description of Signs of Major Parts of Drawings *

10: intermediate transfer belt 20: photosensitive member

30,230: charger 40,240: optical scanning device

50,250: Developer 60,260: Transfer roller

70,270: fixing device 80: fixing roller cleaning device

90: transfer belt cleaning device 100,200: residual image removal device

101,201 web 102,202 feed roll

104,204: first press roller 106,206: second press roller

108,208: recovery roll 220: photosensitive drum

In order to achieve the above object, the residual image removing apparatus of the wet electrophotographic printing machine of the present invention is characterized in that after transferring and fixing an image on an intermediate transfer medium developed by a developer mixed with a powdered toner and a liquid solvent, onto a sheet of paper, An apparatus for removing an image remaining on a transfer medium and a fixing roller, wherein the cleaning means of the transfer medium and the cleaning means of the fixing roller are integrally driven, and the transfer medium and the fixing roller are in continuous contact with each other. The web; A first pressing roller for bringing the web into close contact with the transfer medium to be in contact with the residual image on the transfer medium; A second press roller for bringing the web, which has cleaned the transfer medium, into close contact with the fixing roller so as to be in contact with the residual image on the fixing roller; A web feed roll for supplying the web to the first press roller; And a web recovery roll for recovering the web after removing the residual images.

It is preferable to further include a backup roller for pushing the transfer medium toward the first pressing roller in the transfer medium to correspond to the first pressing roller.

In addition, it is preferable to further include; means for driving the web recovery roll.

In order to achieve another object of the present invention, the residual image removing apparatus of the wet electrophotographic printing machine of the present invention, after transferring and fixing the image on the photosensitive drum developed with a developing solution in which a powdered toner and a liquid solvent are mixed, An apparatus for removing an image remaining in the photosensitive drum and the fixing roller, characterized in that the cleaning means of the photosensitive drum and the cleaning means of the fixing roller are integrally driven, and the images of the photosensitive drum and the fixing roller are continuously Contacting web; A first pressing roller for bringing the web into close contact with the photosensitive drum to be in contact with the residual image on the photosensitive drum; A second press roller for bringing the web, which has cleaned the photosensitive drum, into close contact with the fixing roller such that the web contacts the remaining image on the fixing roller; A web feed roll for supplying the web to the first press roller; And a web recovery roll for recovering the web after removing the residual images.

Hereinafter, an apparatus for removing residual images of a wet electrophotographic printer according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this process, the thicknesses of layers or regions illustrated in the drawings are exaggerated for clarity.

2 is a schematic diagram of a wet color printing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention, in which the same structure as in the conventional invention uses the same reference numerals and omits detailed description.

Referring to the drawings, a residual image removal apparatus 100 in which a conventional fixing roller cleaning device and a transfer belt cleaning device are integrally driven is positioned via a transfer belt 10 and a fixing roller 74. The residual image removing apparatus 100 includes a supply roll 102 for supplying the cleaning web 101, and a recovery roll for recovering the web 101 that has finished the residual image removal operation on the transfer belt 10 and the fixing roller 74. (108), a first pressing roll (104) for closely contacting the web (101) to the transfer belt (10), and a backup roller arranged in the intermediate transfer roller (10) corresponding to the first pressing roller (104). 105 and a second pressing roll 106 for bringing the web 101 into close contact with the fixing roller 74.

On the other hand, the residual image removal apparatus 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is different from the conventional cleaning apparatus, there are no containers (88, 98 of FIG. 1) for supplying or receiving a carrier, the supply roll 102 ) And the recovery roll 108 is operated by one drive motor (not shown) is a feature of the present invention.

The operation of the residual image removal device of the above structure will be described with reference to FIG.

First, after the photoreceptor 20 is charged to a potential of a predetermined level through the charger 30, the optical scanning device 40 scans light onto a predetermined region of the charged photoreceptor 20. An electrostatic latent image is formed in the photosensitive member 30 by the scanned light, and this electrostatic latent image is developed by the toner charged in the developer 50. The images developed on the photosensitive member 20 are primarily transferred to a predetermined region of the transfer belt 10 passing between each photosensitive member 20 and the backup roller 22 corresponding thereto. The primary transferred color image is secondarily transferred onto the paper P passing between the transfer roller 60 and the corresponding roller 14. At this time, a direct current voltage is applied to the transfer roller 60 in the opposite polarity to the toner, so that the toner is adhered to the paper P by the electrostatic attraction between the toner and the transfer roller 60. The paper P on which the toner adheres is passed between the fixing roller 74 and the pressure roller 76 facing the toner, and the heat between the rollers 74 and 76 and the heat generated by the heater 72 inside the fixing roller 74. The toner is momentarily fused to the paper P by the pressure. The paper P on which the color image is fused is discharged along the paper feed path 79.

On the other hand, the web 101 supplied from the supply roll 102 of the residual image removing apparatus 100 is in close contact with the backup roller 105 in the transfer roller 10 by the first pressing roller 104, the secondary transfer process Removes the residual images remaining on the transfer belt 10 without being transferred to the paper P. At this time, the carrier remaining on the transfer belt 10 also wets the web 101 while being wiped off the cleaning web 101 together.

The web 101 moistened with the carrier is brought into contact with the fixing roller 74 by the second pressing roller 106 in the next moving path to clean the remaining image of the fixing roller 74. At this time, since the web 101 cleans the fixed fixing roller 74 in the wet state, it effectively removes the residual image of the fixing roller 74, and also heats the fixing roller 74 heated by the heater 72. The carrier recovery tank (see 98 in FIG. 1) is unnecessary because there is no carrier flowing down even when the web 101, which has been cleaned, is wound on the recovery roll 108 since the heating is completed.

3 is a schematic explanatory view of a wet color printer according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Components having the same functions as the conventional invention will not be described in detail.

Referring to the drawings, in the wet color printing machine using the photosensitive drum 220 as a transfer medium, four developing units 250 contacting the circumference of the photosensitive drum 220 are arranged. The charger 230 and the optical scanning device 240 are arranged at the front end of the photosensitive drum 220 on the rotation path. A transfer roller 260, a fixing device 270, and a residual image removing device 200 are arranged at the rear end of the developing unit 250.

The residual image removing apparatus 200 is positioned via the photosensitive drum 220 and the fixing roller 274. The residual image removing apparatus 200 includes a supply roll 202 for supplying the cleaning web 201, and a recovery roll for recovering the web 201 after the removal of the residual image on the photosensitive drum 220 and the fixing roller 274. 208, a first pressing roll 204 for closely contacting the web 201 to the photosensitive drum 220, and a second pressing roll 208 for closely contacting the web 201 to the fixing roller 274. Equipped.

The operation of the wet color printing machine of the above structure will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, the charger 230 charges the photosensitive drum 220 to a potential of a predetermined level. The optical scanning device 240 is optically reflected on the photosensitive drum 220 to form an electrostatic latent image. The color-developers 250 develop an image of each color in a predetermined region of the photosensitive drum 220.

The transfer roller 260 on the next path transfers the color image onto the paper P passing therebetween, using the photosensitive roller drum 220 as a backup roller. At this time, a direct current voltage is applied to the transfer roller 260 so that a polarity opposite to that of the toner is charged to adhere the toner to the paper.

The toner adheres the paper P between the fixing roller 274 and the pressure roller 276 facing the toner, and between the rollers 274 and 276 and the heat generated by the heater 272 inside the fixing roller 274. The toner is momentarily fused to the paper P by the pressure. The paper P on which the color image is fused is discharged along the paper conveyance path 279.

On the other hand, the web 201 supplied from the supply roll 202 of the residual image removing apparatus 200 is in close contact with the photosensitive drum 220 by the first pressing roller 204 is not transferred to the paper (P) in the transfer process. The residual image remaining in the photosensitive drum 220 is removed without. At this time, the carrier remaining on the photosensitive drum 220 is also wetted with the cleaning web 201 while wetting the web 201.

The web 201 moistened with the carrier is brought into contact with the fixing roller 274 by the second pressing roller 206 in the next movement path to clean the residual image on the fixing roller 274. At this time, since the web 201 cleans the fixing roller 274 heated by the heater 272 in a wet state, the residual image of the fixing roller 274 is effectively removed, and the heated fixing roller 274 of the heated fixing roller 274 is cleaned. Since the heating is performed by heat, even if the web 201 which has been cleaned is wound around the collecting roll 208, there is no carrier flowing down (see 98 in FIG. 1) because there is no carrier flowing down.

As described above, the residual image removing apparatus of the wet electrophotographic printing press according to the present invention combines two conventional image removing apparatuses into one apparatus, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost and reducing the volume of the apparatus. It has the effect of reducing it.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments with reference to the drawings, this is merely exemplary, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent embodiments are possible. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined only by the appended claims.

Claims (7)

An apparatus for removing an image remaining on the transfer medium and the fixing roller after transferring and fixing an image on an intermediate transfer medium developed with a developing solution in which a powdered toner and a liquid solvent are mixed onto paper. A web continuously contacting the transfer medium and the fixing roller; A first press roller for bringing the web into close contact with the transfer medium to be in contact with the residual image on the transfer medium; A second press roller for bringing the web, which has cleaned the transfer medium, into close contact with the fixing roller so as to be in contact with the residual image on the fixing roller; A web feed roll for supplying the web to the first press roller; And And a web recovery roll for recovering the web after removing the residual images. And a cleaning means for cleaning the transfer medium and a cleaning means for the fixing roller are integrally driven to remove the residual image of the wet electrophotographic printer. delete The method of claim 1, And a backup roller for pushing the transfer medium toward the first press roller in the transfer medium so as to correspond to the first press roller. The method of claim 1, And a means for driving said web recovery roll. An apparatus for removing an image remaining on a photosensitive drum and a fixing roller after transferring and fixing an image on a photosensitive drum developed with a developer in which a powdered toner and a liquid solvent are mixed onto a paper. A web continuously contacting the photosensitive drum and the fixing roller; A first pressing roller for bringing the web into close contact with the photosensitive drum to be in contact with the residual image on the photosensitive drum; A second press roller for bringing the web, which has cleaned the photosensitive drum, into close contact with the fixing roller such that the web contacts the remaining image on the fixing roller; A web feed roll for supplying the web to the first press roller; And And a web recovery roll for recovering the web after removing the residual images. And a cleaning means for the photosensitive drum and a cleaning means for the fixing roller are integrally driven to remove the residual image of the wet electrophotographic printer. delete The method of claim 5, And a means for driving said web recovery roll.